We compared Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks and Darktrace based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison of Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks seems to be the superior solution. Our reviewers feel that because Darktrace is lacking where security is concerned, Cortex XDR is a better investment.
"Device Trajectory is one of the most valuable features. We're able to dig in and really understand how things came to be and where to focus our efforts."
"appreciate the File Trajectory feature, as it's excellent for an analyst or mobile analyst. I can track everything that happens on our server from my PC or device. Integration with SecureX is a welcome feature because it connects Cisco's integrated security portfolio with our complete infrastructure. Sandboxing is helpful, and integration with the Cisco environment is excellent as we use many of their products, and that's very valuable for us."
"I'm only using the AMP (advanced malware protection) which is protecting my file system from all the malicious things that might happen. It should protect all kinds of things that might happen on the servers, things that I cannot see."
"The VPN is most valuable. It's the best thing in the market today. We can use two-factor authentication with another platform, and we can authenticate with two-factor."
"It is extensive in terms of providing visibility and insights into threats. It allows for research into a threat, and you can chart your progress on how you're resolving it."
"It's quite simple, and the advantage I see is that I get the trajectory of what happened inside the network, how a file has been transmitted to the workstation, and which files have got corrupted."
"The biggest lesson that I have learned from using this product is that there is a lot more malware slipping through my email filters than I expected."
"The most valuable feature is signature-based malware detection."
"The solution is a new generation XDR that has a lot of artificial intelligence modules."
"Since they've done their most recent update, the ease to isolate endpoints is valuable. If we find one where there is a virus on it, we can easily isolate it. We don't even have to contact the user. We don't have to manually take them off the network. We can easily isolate them."
"I like the centralized console and the predictive analysis it does of malware. It is very stable and also scalable."
"The management capabilities, allow an IT organization to get quite a good picture of attempted cyber attacks."
"Cortex XDR's most valuable feature is its intelligence-based dashboards."
"It has pretty much everything we need and works well within the Palo Alto ecosystem."
"One of the main benefits of the solution is its intelligence to correlate the events into an incident."
"From a single pane of glass, you can easily manage all of your endpoints."
"We are able to detect a lot of things, actually, and see what is happening in our network."
"The most valuable feature is that it gives us visibility of rogue traffic that is on the network."
"t was pretty as far as the granularity of what you were getting out of it."
"We liked their approach to identifying intrusions or network anomalies using AI."
"It's a very stable product."
"Technical support is helpful and responsive."
"I have used multiple solutions, but its graphical user interface is quite interesting and quite descriptive. There are a lot of video animations, and we can easily see how the data is transferred between various points. That's something really interesting. It is also quite easy to understand for a new user."
"The active threat dashboard is the most valuable feature of this solution."
"An easier way to do deduplication of machines, or be alerted to the fact that there's more than one instance of a machine, would be useful... That way you could get a more accurate device count, so you're not having an inflated number."
"In terms of the user experience, if the UX design could be much simpler [that would improve things]... if they could make it more intuitive for someone who is not an engineer so that they still can read what's going on in their webpage and understand, that would be something."
"The Linux agent is a simple offline classic agent, and it doesn't support Secure Boot, which is important to have on a Linux machine. The Linux agent has conflicts with other solutions, including the Exploit Prevention system found in Windows servers. We didn't find a fix during troubleshooting, and Cisco couldn't offer one either. Eventually, we had to shut down the Exploit Prevention system. We didn't like that as we always want a solution that can fit smoothly into the setup without causing problems, especially where security is concerned. The tool also caused CPU spikes on our production machine, and we were seriously considering moving to another product."
"Logging could be better in terms of sending more logs to Cisco Firepower or Cisco ASA. That's an area where it could be made better."
"The thing I hate the most, which they have not fixed, is when it creates duplicate entries within a console. If you have a computer and you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, or you upgrade your agent from version 6 to 7, it creates a new instance in there instead of updating the information. Instead of paying a license for one computer, I have to license two computers until I manually go in, search for all the duplicate entries, and clean them out myself."
"They could improve the main dashboard to more clearly show me the things that I want to see. When I open the dashboard right now, I see a million things and they are not always the things that I need."
"This product has issues with the number of false positives that it reports."
"We don't have issues. We think that Cisco covers all of the security aspects on the market. They continue to innovate in the right way."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks could improve by offering remote management. It would be useful to look at the client's issue to fix it."
"It is not easy to sell Cortex XDR, not because it isn't a good tool. Its marketing needs to be improved."
"The setup is quite easy. We had appropriate support from the manager. One thing that was missing was the integration part."
"The encryption is not up to the mark."
"Limited remote connection."
"The installation should be easier and the Palo Alto pre-sales and sales teams should have more information on the product because they don't know what they are selling."
"In terms of areas of improvement, we have not completed our review of the product. We're also looking at other products. So, it's a little bit hard to tell what could be different because we have not completed the review of this product, but based on our experience so far, its implementation is quite complex."
"There are some third-party solutions that are difficult to integrate with, which is something that can be improved."
"We'd like threat hunting, and we'd like to see a global solution that can automate vulnerability scans. I know it is something they are working on."
"Darktrace requires numerous configurations. It would be beneficial if the configuration could be made simpler."
"They just need to work on their price. In terms of features, we are trying to understand all the features that we have. We're still exploring everything that we have so that we can fully utilize it. At this point in time, it is not about the features. It is more about utilization. We're just trying to utilize everything to full capacity."
"In the next version, I'd like to see penetration testing."
"I think there is some MSSP missing."
"Upper management wasn't sold on the value proposition."
"There aren't so many third-party vendor platforms natively integrated with the platform."
"The module can improve so that every time it's more intelligent."
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Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is ranked 4th in EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) with 42 reviews while Darktrace is ranked 1st in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) with 34 reviews. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is rated 8.2, while Darktrace is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks writes "Easy to set up, reliable, and always scanning". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Darktrace writes "Advanced Cybersecurity Artificial Intelligence, plenty of features, and impressive threat detection". Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is most compared with CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity Complete, Symantec Endpoint Security and Check Point Harmony Endpoint, whereas Darktrace is most compared with CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Complete, Cisco Secure Network Analytics, Vectra AI and ExtraHop Reveal(x).
We monitor all EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.